Spain’s Sanchez Says He Can Form Government, Avoid Elections
Spain’s Sanchez Says He Can Form Government, Avoid Elections
(Bloomberg) -- Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is convinced that he can still form a minority government and avoid fresh elections after his Socialist party’s failed in July to gather enough support to win a confidence vote.
Sanchez ruled out any chance of new talks to form a ruling coalition with the anti-austerity party Podemos. But he insisted that trust hasn’t broken down to the extent that he can’t reach consensus with them over a policy program, avoiding the need for a return to the ballot box.
“Between elections and a coalition government there’s an alternative, which is a government with a common progressive program,” Sanchez said in an interview with El Pais. “Next week we will present that program to civil society and especially the Podemos parliamentary group in order to find the necessary support so that the legislature sets things in motion.”
The majority of Spaniards want Sanchez to reach a deal with Podemos and avoid new elections, according to a Sigma Dos poll published by El Mundo. Nearly 55% favor a deal, a number that rises to 72% for those who voted for the Socialists. Just 21% think Sanchez is negotiating in good faith, while 61% think he’d prefer to run down the clock in hopes of winning a majority in a new election.
Sanchez has until Sept. 23 to take another crack at winning a confidence vote in parliament. If he doesn’t succeed, new elections will be held in November.
Sanchez also said he believed that it was in the interest of the right-wing opposition People’s Party and Ciudadanos to abstain in the confidence vote in order to avoid him having to broker a deal with Catalan and Basque pro-independence parties.
To contact the reporter on this story: Charlie Devereux in Madrid at cdevereux3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Davis at abdavis@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey
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